Dreams of Steel: Chronicles of the Black Company, Book 6

The book was similar to the other Glen Cook books--and all of them are good. The narrator was not good. She had voices for characters sometimes, and sometimes not--then other times, the character's voice changed to a different voice. This is definately way out of character for Audible Frontiers, so I hope if Ms Butera is going to continue in this work, she becomes a more diligent study... All that said, the book is worth reading--and Audible books are fun to 'read' while driving--or whenever. This one is well worth the read. Try to ignore the narrator.

I love this series and have consumed it rapidly, how ever this book I found confusing, also having the lady as the main wasnt that appealing since shes very cold and and doesnt have much of a sense of humor.

The narrator wasnt well suited for the book, as a previous reviewer said she has certian vocal quirks that can be quite irratating,and her attempts at Indian accents are almost comical though not in a good way.

Tip to narrators avoid accents.... unless you sound like a native, you just end up sounding like a racist 1970s comedian.

I've been loving the black company books so far, but this one... I think I'll get it in paper. This is one of the worst readings I've encountered on Audible. Mark Vitor does Lady's voice better than Ms. Butera. I've noticed this problem with several Fantasy books in Female voices, that Audible seems to think all women should sound soft, and a bit ditzy. Please hire better female readers, they are out there!

No, after listening to Marc Vietor for the last 4 books, it was tough getting used to Rachel Butera's narration.

The Lady because the whole book was concentrated mostly on her.

Contrary, flimsical, valley.

It was a decent listen mostly due to Glen Cooks excellent ongoing story of the Black Company.

I feel Rachel Butera was not the right voice for this kind of story. This is gritty and dark fantasy; Rachel's voice didn't do the story justice because it was to nonchalant, there was an air of levity her voice brought to moments that needed a more serious and dire approach, which I did not feel that from her.

Since there is no other audio book edition of the Black Company novels, and I thought the others in the series thus far lived up to expectation (Mark Vietor has a good handle on Croaker, so how far wrong can they go.) I don't fancy myself a critic, and after all the audio books I've enjoyed (even some I've greedily devoured,) I'm a bit ashamed to make my 1st book review a bad one. I'm sort of hoping someone at Audio-Frontiers is reading. The book isn't, at least in my opinion, the strongest in the series, but it is still very good. That is, of course, a back-handed complement. When Mr. Cook is really "on" his books refuse to be put down and I can remember the first time I read the series sitting up in bed to 4am, "Work in the morning be damned, I'd survive.." Ms. Butera, however was a big disappointment. I could waste time on a flame, ( a reading of something like "the carnage was great" describing a battlefield - "great" being interpreted with relish like Tony the Tiger saying "They're Great!" as opposed to describing the scope and breadth of the carnage, comes to mind as a vividly cringe-worthy and toe-curling moment. I guess you could make an argument that is what Mr. Cook intended, but...) suffice it to say, I felt, that she came across as false and at times even bored with what she was reading. Mechanically manipulating her voice in reaction to words, but seemingly uncaring or unaware of the whole. It was continually jarring. She did have a few character voices that were subtle enough to be believed, and "rang true," but as the main character and narrator rarely fell into this category, they are not what sticks in my mind. (Unfortunately, there were also a few doozies that sounded like they were right out of a bad cartoon, and sadly they are hard to forget.) I'm sure I'll listen to the Black Company novels again, they are that good, but I'll either skip this one, or more likely pull out my old paper version.

Very good book, but the reader was a poor choice. She would do much better with something like the Sookie Stackhouse books or other young girl fantasy. I must give her props for a spot on Underdog Lady and Little Lupe impression. I see OJ and he is scared. Bababooie to you all.